I did make a few adjustments/…I reduced the sugar by a quarter… but yes the house was smelling of butter.. and I think that’s why it was much appreciated at home…
I used store bought plum conserve and did not dust the bars with sugar…felt they looked pretty just as they were!!! :)

I almost didn’t make this because of the pound of butter and because I don’t like shortbread (too dry). But I’m glad I did, because it was really good. I am shocked that I managed to not eat the entire thing since I made it on Friday (am sending the rest to work with hubby tomorrow). I made cranberry jam since I had no rhubarb and tons of cranberries. And I used my food processor to grate the dough, so it was super easy. I’d make it again for super special occasions.

This lovely “shortbread” is light and delicious. This one is definitely a keeper and the possibilities for fillings are endless. As usual, I am amazed at the creativity this group of bakers brings to the table! Here is a little history on how Gale Gand acquired the recipe:

Mine are delicious. I did change a few things: I used 1 3/4 cups sugar, I baked the bottom layer for 15 minutes and then spread the jam and remaining dough, and I topped the dough with 1/4 cup sparkling sugar. Then I baked them for another 35 minutes. When the cookies came out of the oven I added more sparkling sugar. Its a pretty effect and they taste wonderful.http://birdingbaker.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/twd-hungarian-shortbread/

Would love to know how much butter and sugar you used….it was a fun departure from my normal baking to use this much of those ingredients but I would love to know how much I could reduce without sacrificing the overall quality of the dessert. Thanks!

I was planning on writing a comment earlier but I was still in a sugar/butter induced coma, but a totally worth it coma. The house smelled amazing and my husband growled when I suggested we share some, so it is a keeper.

Definitely a keeper! I’m glad I only made a half-batch, because it was all I could do not to snarf down the whole pan as soon as they came out of the oven. :)
That said, I did make a whole bunch of changes, including adding grated orange zest to the dough, using cherry-rhubarb jam from last summer’s jam-making frenzy as the filling, and cutting back to 3/4 of the sugar.
I also skipped the dusting of icing sugar altogether, because I’m not really keen on super-sweet desserts, and am really happy I did… they’re bordering on too sweet as it is, though the tartness of the jam offsets the sweetness quite nicely. I can totally see these being a hit during the holidays with a cranberry jam in the middle!

My hand, wrist and forearm still hurt two days later… I’m hoping that the 30 minutes worth of grating frozen dough hasn’t triggered carpal tunnel :(
(My mom used her food processor to grate the dough much more easily and quickly.)
Besides that, the recipe was delicious! Though I didn’t tell my coworkers how much butter was in these bars.

I loved this recipe! I also don’t like desserts that are too sweet so reduced the amount of sugar (but left the amount of butter untouched). I used marula jelly which I bought in South Africa last year and it turned out very tasty. All my coworkers really loved it. I would definitely make this again.

Hi Everyone – Patricia from ButterYum here. This is my first time joining the group. I baked half the recipe in an 8-inch square pan and used sugar-free raspberry jam that I had in the fridge. Delish!!

Am I the only baker who was underwhelmed by this recipe? It just didn’t wow me. There were good things about it – it was easy to execute for one. I see where many bakers cut the amount of sugar and that may be the key. I made the rhubarb jam from rhubarb in our garden, and next time I will use less sugar than called for so the tartness of the rhubarb is more prominent. I will also use less sugar in the dough because I think the too sweet rhubarb jam got lost in the too sweet dough.

Most baking recipes successfully scale up or down. Sometimes it’s hard to have the right sized pan, or spices can become overwhelming if increased in proportion, and you don’t want to decrease leaveners like yeast, baking powder or soda to microscopic amounts. You’ll probably need to adjust baking time and maybe temperature too for a different size. Also, I always write the adjusted amount on the recipe rather than doing it in my head. I’ve made too many mistakes relying on memory.

Off topic: I am humbled to have received a Versatile and Liebster award. My question is can you choose someone who as already received this award from someone else? This is turning out to be more difficult than I thought it would be for there are so many awesome blogs out there that I love…

This turned out soooo well! I cringe a little at the butter content, but oh well ;) I have to say… I’m amazed each week at the incredible variety that everyone comes up with in these recipes! Both in terms of adjustments we make to the recipe to suit taste/dietary needs/what we have on hand/etc, and also just in how each batch turns out… it’s incredible! :) Totally loving baking with you all!

Oh no! I somehow had it in my head that this recipe was due on Tuesday, May 8th. I’ve been so, so busy with school and making the Hungarian Shortbread for the recipe group was the thing I was really looking forward to doing on Monday after my last final exam :( I’ll still make it anyway but it isn’t the same. Good to know most people liked the recipe, it looks so yummy! I love rhubarb. Now I just need to find some, we don’t even have leaves on the trees yet where I live (Alaska) so fresh rhubarb is still a ways off.

I am making mine now, as I thought they were ‘due’ last Tuesday, not the week before. Then, I decided hey, I’ll make them for Mother’s Day and bring them to church so I won’t eat them all. I feel the same as you A POUND of butter?! I can’t wait to try them. :)